Gold prices were little changed on Monday as the market waited for a flurry of key U.S. economic data this week, with a weaker dollar offering some support.

Gold prices were little changed on Monday as the market waited for a flurry of key U.S. economic data this week, with a weaker dollar offering some support. (Reuters)

Gold prices were little changed on Monday as the market waited for a flurry of key U.S. economic data this week, with a weaker dollar offering some support.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold was nearly flat at $1,256.06 per ounce at 0050 GMT, staying near a one-week low hit on Friday.
* U.S. gold futures for August delivery rose 0.04 percent to $1,256.80 per ounce.
* The dollar sagged against its major peers on Monday, losing traction as U.S. Treasury yields stayed low amid fading expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates again later this year.
* Major central banks should press ahead with interest rate increases, the Bank for International Settlements said on Sunday, while recognising that some turbulence in financial markets will have to be negotiated along the way. * Britain’s Brexit minister David Davis said on Sunday he was “pretty sure” he could negotiate a good deal to leave the European Union, something that would require a transitional arrangement for around one or two years. * China’s top banking regulator has told banks to reform by tackling China’s “zombie firms”, control regional housing market bubbles and push forward with debt to equity swaps, according to a statement posted on the regulator’s website late Friday.
* Asia bond demand is running at its highest level in eight months and looks set to stay firm this year, boosted by the region’s higher returns at a time when stubbornly low inflation in the United States is keeping a lid on Treasury yields.
* U.S. data due next week includes the June consumer confidence indicator, pending home sales, crude oil inventories, revised first quarter GDP and the PCE price index.